Standard: RE Social Science Grade: 6-8 Strand: People, Places, and Environments Concept 1: Knowledge: Learners will understand
Benchmark: The theme of people, places, and environments involves the study of the relationships between human populations in different locations and geographic phenomena such as climate, vegetation, and natural resources;
Benchmark: Concepts such as: location, region, place, and migration, as well as human and physical systems;
Benchmark: Past and present changes in physical systems, such as seasons, climate, and weather, and the water cycle, in both national and global contexts;
Benchmark: The roles of different kinds of population centers in a region or nation;
Benchmark: The concept of regions identifies links between people in different locations according to specific criteria (e.g., physical, economic, social, cultural, or religious);
Benchmark: Patterns of demographic and political change, and cultural diffusion in the past and present (e.g., changing national boundaries, migration, and settlement, the diffusion of and changes in customs and ideas);
Benchmark: Human modifications of the environment;
Benchmark: Factors that contribute to cooperation and conflict among peoples of the nation and world, including language, religion, and political beliefs;
Benchmark: The use of a variety of maps, globes, graphic representations, and geospatial technologies to help investigate the relationships among people, places, and environments.
Concept 2: Processes: Learners will be able to
Benchmark: Ask and find answers to geographic questions related to regions, nations, and the world in the past and present;
Benchmark: Research, organize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information from atlases, data bases, grid systems, charts, graphs, maps, geospatial technologies, and other tools to interpret relationships among geographic factors and historic events;
Benchmark: Acquire, organize, and analyze information and use geographic tools to draw conclusions about historic or current national and global environmental change;
Benchmark: Calculate distance, scale, and area, to inform study of historic or current national and global environments;
Benchmark: Identify and interpret "push" and "pull" factors involved in the migrations of people in this nation and other parts of the world;
Benchmark: Evaluate the consequences of human actions in environmental terms.
Grade 9-12
Strand: People, Places, and Environments
Concept 1: Knowledge: Learners will understand
Benchmark: The theme of people, places, and environments involves the study of the relationships between human populations in different locations and regional and global geographic phenomena, such as landforms, soils, climate, vegetation, and natural resources;
Benchmark: Concepts such as: location, physical and human characteristics of national and global regions in the past and present, and the interactions of humans with the environment;
Benchmark: Consequences of changes in regional and global physical systems, such as seasons, climate, and weather, and the water cycle;
Benchmark: The causes and impact of resource management, as reflected in land use, settlement patterns, and ecosystem changes
Benchmark: The cultural diffusion of customs and ideas
Benchmark: The social and economic effects of environmental changes and crises resulting from phenomena such as floods, storms, and drought;
Benchmark: Factors that contribute to cooperation and conflict among peoples of the nation and world, including language, religion, and political beliefs.
Benchmark: The use of a variety of maps, globes, graphic representations, and geospatial technologies to help investigate spatial relations, resources, and population density and distribution, and changes in these phenomena over time.
Concept 2: Processes: Learners will be able to
Benchmark: Ask and find answers to geographic questions related to regions, nations, and the world in the past and present;
Benchmark: Research, organize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information from atlases, data bases, grid systems, statistical presentations, charts, graphs, and maps to interpret relationships among geographic factors and events at the local, regional, national, and global levels, and assess policy options;
Benchmark: Acquire, organize, and analyze geographic information from data sources, geographic tools and geospatial technologies such as aerial photographs, satellite images, and geographic information systems (GIS) to determine patterns;
Benchmark: Analyze different interpretations of the causes and effects of migrations of people in various times and places on the globe;
Benchmark: Calculate distance, scale, area, and density, and construct maps and models of geographic information;
Benchmark: Evaluate the consequences of human actions in environmental terms.
JAK: These will be helpful for the Social Sciences department. We may want to make some of these a bit more specific, to focus on certain kinds of content that we are especially interested in, and/or, to ensure that our curriculum is global in its coverage of geography. To me, some of these benchmarks (like the second one in processes) are too wordy. I’d either separate them, or refine/rephrase. I think the discussion of what establishes levels of mastery with respect to these standards will be interesting.
Grade: 6-8
Strand: People, Places, and Environments
Concept 1: Knowledge: Learners will understand
Concept 2: Processes: Learners will be able to
Grade 9-12
Strand: People, Places, and Environments
Concept 1: Knowledge: Learners will understand
Concept 2: Processes: Learners will be able to
JAK: These will be helpful for the Social Sciences department. We may want to make some of these a bit more specific, to focus on certain kinds of content that we are especially interested in, and/or, to ensure that our curriculum is global in its coverage of geography. To me, some of these benchmarks (like the second one in processes) are too wordy. I’d either separate them, or refine/rephrase. I think the discussion of what establishes levels of mastery with respect to these standards will be interesting.